


hell was the journey but it brought me heaven

by Nightblaze



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Didn't Know They Were Dating, F/F, im glad that thats a tag on ao3. good shit guys, proud to be posting the first dotin fic, yall r sleeping on this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28100682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightblaze/pseuds/Nightblaze
Summary: five times Dot and Fatin are not dating
Relationships: Dot Campbell/Fatin Jadmani
Comments: 41
Kudos: 357





	hell was the journey but it brought me heaven

1

“Where’s the French press? We have a French press, right?”

Fatin was digging through the boxes sitting in the empty kitchen. She and Dot had just finished bringing up boxes to the apartment last night and promptly fell asleep afterwards instead of unpacking anything.

The month following the girls’ return to normal life had been hectic. News stories and headlines were impossible to avoid once the truth of the “experiment” got out. But, like most things, after about a week everybody forgot about the Unsinkable Six. On occasion they’d be recognized out on the street, but even then they could just say “nope, not me,” and escape.

At first moving to Los Angeles had been a joke— _hey, do u still want to move in together? ;)_ followed by a picture of a multimillion dollar mansion in Beverly Hills—but it quickly turned into Dot and Fatin texting and calling every day to find an apartment.

So here they were.

“Uh, yeah, maybe try the coffee box,” Dot said dryly, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she turned around the corner of the hallway. She nudged a box with ‘COFFEE’ written on it in a blue pen towards Fatin.

“Ms. Inventory, still on top of it,” she laughed and pulled the stainless steel French press out from the box.

“It’s in my blood,” Dot yawned.

“Do you want any? I can make enough for both of us. It’s like, basic roomie shit,” Fatin said as she stood up.

“Oh, uh, sure. I like it—”

“Black, I remember. I mean, disgusting, but you do you.”

Dot blinked, and then smiled. “Thanks.” As she turned to leave, she called, “By the way, I think the mugs are in the box labelled ‘mugs.’”

“Fuck off!”

2

There were few things in the world better than the smell of buttery popcorn.

Dot shook the bag of microwave popcorn a couple times after taking it from the microwave. She swore that it made the popcorn more buttery, even if she had no evidence to suggest that it was true.

“Holy shit, Dot! There’s a documentary about us!” Fatin shouted from the living room.

Dot dumped the popcorn into a bowl and carried it over to the couch. “We are not watching a documentary about our trauma on movie night.”

Good old movie nights. There was plenty to do in LA, obviously, but on Friday nights they’d started staying in. It was nice to have a breather from city life and just curl up under a blanket with snacks and a film.

“It’ll be a little bit funny,” Fatin pushed.

Dot sighed as she sat down. “I really don’t want to hear them talk about Nora and Martha.” A somber silence fell over both of them. “Sorry to bring the mood down,” Dot muttered. So much for a nice breather. This sucked.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to watch it.”

They sat in the quiet for a little while longer. Sometimes it was easy to pretend they hadn’t lost two friends (and Jeanette, or Linh—that was still confusing) on the island. Other times it was soul-crushing.

Dot rested her head against Fatin’s shoulder. “You can pick a rom-com. Some really shitty one we can tear apart.”

The movie was beyond shit, but Dot thought it was just fine to fall asleep next to Fatin.

3

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Dot deadpanned.

“Please, you get all lonely when I’m not home. It’ll be good for you,” Fatin insisted.

Dot was indignant. _“You_ get lonely without _me!_ I mean, when was the last time you’ve hooked up with anyone?”

Fatin shook her head. “The point still stands that we need a cat.”

The shelter smelled exactly like every other; like cat pee and kibble. Not a pleasant stench, no matter how much they tried to cover it up with air fresheners. Fatin and Dot were led back to the kennels, where several kittens and a couple adult cats paced restlessly.

Adopting a pet had been a point of discussion for a few weeks at this point. If they shifted their budget around just a little bit, they could take care of a cat. And no matter how much Dot denied wanting one at first, Fatin saw how her face softened up when she saw the cats. Oh yeah, this was a good decision.

“Fatin, look at him!” Dot said, offering her hand to a black and white cat through the wire door. “His name’s Count Catula.”

“He’s a real cutie, isn’t he?” Fatin crouched down next to Dot and smiled at her. “God, it’s like you guys have a psychic connection already.” The cat was rubbing his face up against Dot’s palm.

“Yeah. He’s trash talking you in his head,” Dot joked.

“Well, now we have to get him. He’ll change his mind about me in no time.”

“You sure about that?”

“If I can get _you_ to like me, I think I can get a cat to like me, too.”

4

“Does this menu make any sense to you?” Dot leafed through the pages aimlessly.

Fatin rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. “You made the reservation, dipshit.”

“Only because I thought you would like it!”

Fatin leaned over the table and flipped Dot’s menu to the entrees section. “I _do_ like it. Thank you,” she said as she sat back down.

“Yeah, well. Happy birthday.” Dot shifted in her chair. It was always slightly uncomfortable to be appreciated—probably residual… something from her dad. With Fatin especially it made her almost... queasy. That was the word she’d decided on, at least, when she’d last tried to name it.

The food was delicious (as it should be at a high-end place like this) but Dot was still shocked at the price. Since when did a nice dinner cost seventy-five dollars for two people?

The waiter, waiting for Dot to dig through her wallet, said, “So you’re, like, the man of the relationship?”

Dot glared at him and was about to go off, but Fatin beat her to the punch. “Dude, there’s no _man_ in a lesbian relationship, that’s like, the whole fucking point. Also, we’re not even dating.”

“Oh, uh. My bad.”

The queasiness was rapidly turning into full-blown nausea. Dot handed the check off to the waiter, telling him to keep the change and he disappeared at light speed. She closed her eyes and tried to quell the sick feeling.

“Woah, you okay, Dot?” Fatin said as she reached out and took her hand.

“Yeah, yeah. For sure. There must’ve been something in the food, that’s all.” Dot stood up. Hopefully getting some fresh air would help.

“Shit. Try not to throw up on me on the way home.”

“I’ll do my best,” Dot said with a half smile.

She didn’t even realize that Fatin was still holding her hand until she dropped it and the chill of the night air replaced the warmth.

5

“Oh my Lord, it’s good to see y’all!” Shelby greeted, accompanied by an aggressive hug. Fatin, surprised initially, hugged her back. Shelby moved on to hug Dot while Toni and Fatin shared a less enthusiastic hug.

As far as Fatin knew, they’d been travelling around the country for a while but were planning on settling down somewhere in the west soon. Shelby’s hair was in that awkward stage where it was too long to be called short, but too short to be called long. She pulled it off well enough. Toni, on the other hand, looked mostly the same, though she was wearing a hearty winter jacket that looked like it was swallowing her whole.

Rachel had been around for a day now, having flown in from New York. Leah had arrived a couple hours ago—she’d left the Bay in the morning so she could be in Los Angeles before dark.

It was the first time they’d all been together again since getting back to their lives. Almost all of them. Now more than ever there was a hollowness to the group where Martha and Nora had once been. Nevertheless, it felt right to ring in the new year together.

Dot turned on the television and everyone was talking and laughing as midnight drew closer and closer. Fatin sat next to Dot like always, absentmindedly messing with her hair with one hand and petting Count Catula with the other. Toni shot her a strange look on multiple occasions and Fatin gave her the same look back.

“I’m going to grab a beer,” Dot said as she stood up. Fatin reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her.

“Can you get one for me, too?”

“Yeah, for sure.” Dot gave her a smile and Fatin grinned back.

As soon as Dot left the room, everyone else leaned with expectant faces. Toni whispered, “When the fuck were you going to tell us you guys were dating?”

“Is it like, a recent thing?” Shelby chimed in quietly.

Fatin scoffed. “Dude, we’re not dating.” She did not like the disbelieving expressions that were passed around the room.

“Damn, Fatin, are you sure?” Rachel asked.

“I know I’m straight but I literally thought you were,” Leah added.

“Yes! Jesus!” Count Catula leapt up from where he sat as Fatin raised her voice.

Dot returned with two beers. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Fatin answered before anyone else could.

They’d really gotten her riled up. Through the rest of the evening and as the clock struck midnight, Fatin’s heart was racing.

+1

Dot kissed Fatin’s forehead as she walked by.

“Hey, I’m heading out,” she said.

Fatin looked up from her phone and watched her get her shoes on. “Are we still good for a movie tonight?”

“Of course.” Dot grabbed the keys from the table and made for the door. “I’ll see you tonight. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Fatin said and went back to her phone for a moment before she froze. Dot’s hand paused on the handle. They turned to look at each other at the same time.

“Holy shit. Are we dating?” Dot asked.

“Fuck. We’re definitely dating.”


End file.
